Qualcomm (QCOM) expects its MSM (Mobile Station Modem) shipments to fall by 50 million to 55 million units due to lost modem orders for Apple’s (AAPL) new iPhones. Looking at the low MSM shipments, we expect Qualcomm’s chipset revenues to fall 16% sequentially and YoY (year-over-year) to $3.9 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. Qualcomm expects the chipset operating margin to fall to 13%–15% in the first quarter from 17% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 as the benefits from the higher ASP (average selling price) from Chinese handset makers fades.

(Bloomberg) -- Disappointing earnings may not be over for Taiwan companies, dragged by waning demand for Apple Inc.’s flagship iPhone and deteriorating relations between the island’s two biggest trade partners.

(Bloomberg) -- Disappointing earnings may not be over for Taiwan companies, dragged by waning demand for Apple Inc.’s flagship iPhone and deteriorating relations between the island’s two biggest trade partners.

In October 2017, the TFTC (Taiwan Fair Trade Commission) fined Qualcomm (QCOM) $774 million for antitrust violations. The Taiwan (EWT) FTC stated that Qualcomm did not license its modem technology to other industry players. Qualcomm appealed the fine’s amount and the calculation method, as it did not justify the revenue it had earned from Taiwan.

TAIPEI/SEOUL (Reuters) - Shares in Asian suppliers and assemblers for Apple Inc fell on Tuesday after several component makers warned of weaker than expected results, leading some market watchers to call the peak for iPhones in several key markets. Following a poor forecast earlier this month, analysts and investors voiced concern over the state of Apple's business, contributing to growing worries that iPhone sales were stagnating and could hurt suppliers. Fresh warnings on Monday from screen maker Japan Display Inc, British chipmaker IQE Plc and Lumentum Holdings Inc, the main supplier of the Face ID technology in the latest generation of iPhones, hurt technology stocks in Asia on Tuesday.

Taiwan Semiconductor, Altaba, and LG Display do a lot of their business in China. It makes sense that tariffs and trade tensions should slash their stock prices, but that's still the wrong reaction in some cases.

Like everyone else, elite investors make mistakes. Some of their top consensus picks, such as Amazon, Facebook and Alibaba, have not done well in October due to various reasons. Nevertheless, the data show elite investors’ consensus picks have done well on average over the long-term. The top 25 S&P 500 stocks among hedge funds at […]

After a 27% decline in October, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stock recovered in November. The stock increased 20% in the first five trading days. The stock rose 4% on November 6 when its EPYC server CPUs (central processing units) were selected by Amazon Web Services (AMZN). There’s growing adoption of EPYC by major cloud companies including Baidu, Tencent, and Microsoft Azure.

Qualcomm (QCOM) is diversifying its business beyond mobile chipsets and modems due to a slowdown in the smartphone market. Qualcomm has launched a headset platform that brings Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant to headphones. Qualcomm is also making image processing chips for action camera maker GoPro (GPRO).

Intel (INTC) is facing a CPU (central processing unit) supply shortage, which came with an unexpected surge in PC and server CPU demand at a time when it’s transitioning to its 10 nm (nanometer) node. In Intel’s third-quarter earnings call, interim CEO Robert Swan stated that the company repositioned some of its 10 nm capacity to 14 nm capacity to meet customer demand. Despite those efforts, Swan said Intel won’t be able to meet all the demand for its products.

Semiconductor companies’ third-quarter earnings results have been somewhat mixed. Intel (INTC) and Xilinx reported strong earnings results, whereas TSMC, Texas Instruments, and Advanced Micro Devices reported demand weakness. The next big semiconductor earnings results will be those of mobile chip giant Qualcomm (QCOM), which is set to release its earnings results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 on November 7.

Intel (INTC) is poised to report strong growth in the second half of the year as PC and server demand picks up. On the other hand, Advanced Micro Devices’ (AMD) earnings are likely to fall in the second half of the year due to GPU (graphics processing unit) weakness. The key highlights of Intel’s latest earnings were the update on its 10 nm node and the health of its data center business in 2019.

For the fourth quarter, Texas Instruments (TXN) guided its biggest sequential revenue decline since 2012. On its third-quarter earnings call, Dave Pahl, TXN’s head of investor relations, warned that after two years of strong growth, the semiconductor industry might see a potential cyclical downturn. Rafael Lizardi, TXN’s CFO, said it’s not clear whether the weak demand is due to a cyclical downturn or is being influenced by macro trends such as the US-China (FXI) trade war.

Texas Instruments (TXN) is no exception. It supplies analog chips and microcontrollers to a broad customer base, which makes its earnings an economic barometer by which to measure the semiconductor industry’s health. TXN reported mixed earnings and weak guidance, which raised fears among investors that the US-China trade war is starting to impact the semiconductor industry.

Smartphones have become one of the biggest drivers of revenue for companies making the chips that power modern technology. Possibly the best example of this can be found in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), now the primary supplier of Apple’s mobile chips. This week, the company reported that its new 7-nanometer chip technology, most notably…

There’s growing speculation that Apple (AAPL) will abandon Intel (INTC) processors in its future Mac devices. Mac is Apple’s line of personal computers, including laptops and desktops. According to the latest note from famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple could start using non-Intel processors in Macs in 2020 or 2021.

In the previous part of the series, we saw that TSMC (TSM) has been increasing its R&D (research and development) efforts on advanced 7-nm+ (nanometer) and 5-nm process nodes. In the first three quarters of 2018, TSMC spent $6.7 billion in capital expenditure and is expected to spend $3.3 billion in the fourth quarter as it ramps up 7-nm production. For 2019, it has set aside $10 billion to $12 billion for capital expenditure, up from $10 billion in 2018.

In the previous part of the series, we saw that TSMC’s (TSM) gross margin is being impacted by a higher mix of the new 7-nm (nanometer) node and low-margin back-end processing. The gross margin is set to improve as 7-nm matures and the foundry shifts to premium packaging solutions. Another factor pulling down TSMC’s gross margin is the lower utilization rate of the 28-nm node due to faster-than-expected migration to the 7-nm node.

TSMC (TSM) is a pure-play foundry and bears fixed overhead costs for running its fabs (fabrication facilities). Its profitability is subject to high manufacturing yields, optimum utilization of its production capacity, and a favorable mix of technology nodes. In the third quarter, TSMC’s gross margin fell 40 basis points sequentially to 47.4%.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) could make a big technology leap in 2019 from lagging behind Intel (INTC) to overtaking Intel in process technology, which could rebuild customers’ confidence in AMD and help its position against Intel. Even if Intel closes the technology gap with its 10-nm (nanometer) node, it could lose its technology lead until AMD’s foundry partner TSMC (TSM) falls behind in future nodes.